Thursday, August 13, 2009

Crisis in Kenya

One time I told a neighbor that we need to plant trees on our compounds. The neighbor refused saying roots of trees planted on small pieces of land can cause the walls of houses to crack, because their roots can spread and get to the foundation of the house. I did not want to accept this theory and advised that one can plant trees that do not have long roots and went ahead to plant trees on our plot. I like a green compound with trees because it is a sign of life, many people prefer to plant flowers and crops on their land instead of trees.

Planting trees and conserving our environment is a big issue now in Kenya. Many people had the mentality of my neighbor that trees are not good in town houses even where there is enough space. Others feel they better cut trees and plant crops on their farms. Yes it is good to have farms with crops but cutting trees in the process is what has caused a major crisis in Kenya now. Mau forest is such a good example of the consequences of cutting trees in the forest to create space for farming, making homes and burning charcoal.

Now we are faced with the terrible consequences of depletion of forests in the country, there has been insufficient rains, rivers are running dry so now many Kenyans and animals are dying of hunger, suffering from malnutrition. Water problem is now a big issue, taps are dry people have to buy water from vendors, the government has no alternative but to dig bore holes even in the city. Due to less water in the dams we now faced power rationing and high cost of living. When we were young we used to be told “In the year 2000 the country will have all infrastructure in place, there will be tapped water in all homes and electricity”. The story now is different; it is now vision 2030 and at this rate I doubt whether there will be a major difference.

This is why people must vacate Mau Forest to pave way for planting of trees, it is a bitter pill to swallow for innocent wananchi (citizens) who were duped by the former long serving government KANU, they will loose their homes but they would rather move on to save millions of Kenyan from worse crisis.